


Half Torn

by HarmonyParty



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Dating, Magic, uuuuuuuuhhhhh i wrote this at 10 PM i'll think of better tags later rip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-07-29 05:10:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20076685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarmonyParty/pseuds/HarmonyParty
Summary: It seems unfair when you work really hard for something, only for life to slap you in the face and tear your goals and dreams apart into millions of pieces. Working hard for what you want can take a LONG time.That being said; it's a wonderful feeling when you find a way to help you achieve your goals much faster. It's what you deserve.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello this story was written in the middle of the night I hope you enjoy it!!! c:

“And what about war tactics and weapons? I’m sure magical beings didn’t use some boring old guns!”

“No, of course they didn’t! If a war were to happen between any sort of magical creatures, they wouldn’t use firearms! They’d cast spells that’d wipe out ARMIES in a blink of an eye! Each creature had to prepare for a war differently than the others. That’s why the Elemental War was the longest magical war known to man!” Rasmodius said as he tossed a few purple mushrooms into his cauldron, stirring slowly and watching the pot like a hawk, waiting for any sudden color change or boiling to happen.

“How long did it go on for?” the farmer asked as he carefully slid a few books back into their place, not wanting to ruin their spines or break the ancient bookshelf, which looked as if it could collapse at any given second with all of the books it was holding.

“Oh, hm, let’s see now...” the wizard paused and twirled his beard, “I would have to say about 70 years. Every time it seemed that the war was finally coming to an end, a sudden surprise attack or death of an important figure would happen and cause a whole new outbreak!”

“And no humans noticed?” the farmer paused the book organization and looked back at the wizard, who shook his head and let out a small chuckle.

“Believe it or not, a great handful of humans participated in the war! Some would just stick with their firearms and spears, but those who taught themselves magic were a force to be reckoned with!” he paused his stirring and carefully placed the abnormally long wooden spoon on the ground; walking over to the bookshelves, he quickly scanned the array of books, some were practically falling apart and missing several pages, while others appeared to have never been open. His eyes lit up with an “Ah ha!” as he reached for a thick, amethyst colored book. A few scratches and stains were on the torn cover, it’s spine was a deep wine color and looked almost metallic.

The title simply read “F I V E”, below that was what remained of a symbol of some sort. It looked like a quarter of a circle, who knows what happened to the rest of the cover.

“You see,” the wizard began, “Most magical creatures had their own unique abilities or spells, some could hide in shadows, others could control the ocean, it all depended on what they were. Very few could master different skills from other beings, it’d take years upon years of training.” he flipped through several pages until he stopped and turned it around for the farmer to see. The writing on the page was unreadable, pure chicken scratch. There were a few sketches of people wearing victorian era clothes, another sketch seemed to be an anatomy study.

“Humans, however, were not a species that had one set skill they were born with. They learned how to do said-skills over time. From dancing to sword fighting, even farming.” he glanced at the farmer.

“So when they learned magic to help with the war, they could take on quite a few magical spells, which was quite impressive to the others. But of course, people are flawed. Those who taught themselves magic would be ratted out and burned at the stake, or drowned. OR, said-humans would abuse their new found powers for their own personal gain! Brain washing, suffocation spells, hexes!” Rasmodius slammed the book shut, revealing the serious look in his eyes.

“Books were written about humans and magic, and how we should learn from the past, how we should make sure to choose wisely when recruiting humans. Lest chaos consumes us all.” 

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Didn’t that get intense, hm?” Rasmodius let out a hearty laugh. “Sorry, I rarely tell such stories to people. Sometimes I get a bit excited!” he turned and walked back to his cauldron.

“No, no, don’t be. It’s always fascinating to hear your stories.” the farmer put the last few books back in their place and stretched his aching arms. “All done organizing your shelves!”

“Ah, thank you once again, Raven! I hope it wasn’t too much of a hassle. I’ve been meaning to have that area cleaned, I’ve been putting it off for far too long!”

“No problem, I love visiting this place, I always find something new here.” Raven said, leaning against a shelf.

“I’m glad. You’re always welcomed here, you’re a good friend of mine.” a sudden bright flash caught the two off guard. Raven blinked, waiting for his eyes to recover from such a sudden light, while the wizard quickly scurried to the giant, boiling pot full of a lavender colored liquid as a foul stench started to fill the room.

Throwing in a few birds’ feet and an odd, deep blue powder, he stirred rapidly. “So sorry! I’ll give you your payment in just a moment!” he continued stirring until the bubbling began to die down and the color changed into an aquamarine. 

“Don’t worry about paying me, but...” Raven turned his head over to the organized bookshelves, moving a lock of his white hair out of his face, “Would it be okay if I borrowed a few books? I’d return them, but if not, I understand.” 

A new, tense silence filled the room.

“Are you planning on learning... Magic?” the wizard’s grip around the cauldron tightened, staring down into the liquid. Raven jumped.

“My goodness, no! Of course not! I was just interested in-”

The wizard laughed again “I jest, I jest. Help yourself, do be careful though. It is very difficult to find these books.” 

Letting out a sigh of relief, Raven nodded “Yes, of course. I’ll try to return them as soon as possible.” he reached out and selected a few titles that caught his interest during the reorganization. Grabbing five books, he held them close, making sure not to drop any of them.

Rasmodius looked out a nearby window, “It’s late, would you like me to teleport you home?” he asked,

“If it’s not too much trouble.” he said with the books pressed against his chest.

“Not at all.” Rasmodius gave him a fatherly smile as he flicked his wrist. In a blink of an eye, Raven was home. His cat, Dusk, sleeping on the bed, stretched out and content. 

Tip toeing to the kitchen, he carefully placed the books on the dining table and spread them out. Two books about the history of magic, one book about the outlawed magic, a worn down book that seemed to be a guide for children titled “Opening your eyes: magic for the young”, and the last book: “HEX: Harsh spells”. All had vibrant palettes and beautiful cover art that appealed to him. Most of them, despite being a bit torn or stained, were in good condition. Raven was excited, he’d get to learn more about the Elemental War and magic itself, something he once thought was a ridiculous concept. 

Raven now had these books in his possession, and the wizard trusts him with them. What a fool.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m sorry again for bothering you so early in the morning.” 

“Don’t be, I don’t care! You do so much for me, I think it’s only fair I do something back.” Haley smiled as she pulled a large, light brown box from under her bed, a few faded stickers of words such as “Dream” and “Style!” were on the lid. She swiftly opened it to reveal a wonderful variety of cameras. 

“Sorry, a few of them are broken! I used them several years ago before I got a bit more serious with photography and I kinda... Dropped them.” Haley let out an embarrassed chuckle while lifting her long, blonde hair off the floor. Picking up a small, rectangular camera, she turned towards raven.

“This one isn’t as complicated as the others, just a few button presses and you should get some good quality pictures!” she pointed at the few buttons, her nails decorated with a light pink nail polish.

“Are you implying that I wouldn’t understand how the more ‘complicated’ cameras work?” Raven asked in a deadpanned voice. Haley opened her mouth, thinking of a way to quickly explain that wasn’t what she meant-- until she saw a smirk on the man’s face. 

“Well you’d be right, I barely passed photography class. That’s why I’m a farmer and not a photographer.”

Haley shoved him playfully, “Jeez, you always act so serious when you’re joking!” the two laughed lightly. 

Breathing in, she handed the camera to the man who wore long, white pants with a black bishop top with four copper colored buttons to contrast it.

“Why do you need the camera anyways?”

“Ah, I just wanted to take a few pictures of my farm and the valley. There are a lot of beautiful areas here, plus it’d be nice to experiment with different angles and lighting without getting harshly graded.” Raven explained as he turned on the camera, the lens extending out and a few lights blinking on. 

“Mm hm, well I’ve lived here much longer than you and--as much as I like it here--I can tell you that there isn’t anything that ‘beautifu-” a click and a flash stopped Haley in her tracks. She stared at Raven who lowered the camera to take a look at the picture he had taken with a sly smile on his face. Blinking for a second, she shot up and tried to snatch the camera from the farmer, who simply raised his arm up and watched the girl struggle to reach the device.

“Delete that!! I probably look stupid! Raven!!” she shouted while stretching her arm out as far as she could. Raven quickly kissed her forehead.

“I told you I was going to take pictures of beautiful things in the valley, didn’t I?” he tilted his head playfully. Haley pouted and turned a light shade of red. 

“Yes but- don’t show anyone! Promise?” 

“You have my word.” the farmer said, placing his hand over his heart. “I best be going now, the farm won’t take pictures of itself.” 

“Yeah you better go before I regret giving you that camera!” Haley spoke in an angry tone, but the big grin on her face was giving away a different message. 

“Love you.” Raven smiled as he left the room, holding the camera tightly in his hand. 

“Love you too.” the blonde girl sighed happily as she watched her farmer leave. 

~~~

It has been about a week since Raven had borrowed those books from Rasmodius; he returned one of the history books and the kid’s book to make sure he wouldn’t appear suspicious.

He had underestimated how much information was in those thin books. There might have been only a few dozen pages, but there were hundreds of spells, each with their own unique method of casting them, or their own special chant. The spells listed didn’t seem to have any particular pattern, they were just thrown on the page with no sense of organization. One could be a simple levitation spell, the one right after that could be a way to “Summon the ocean’s devil” and require the most bizarre items to sacrifice. No rhythm to pages at all. 

There were a few spells that really appealed to him, one of them was, surprisingly, in the children's guide book; he ended up returning it though, as the spell was more interesting rather than useful towards his goal. The others were in "HEX: Harsh Spells". He had held onto the books longer than the others in n attempt to memorize the spells, which he knew would begin to raise suspicion. He knew he'd have to return those books soon.

After realizing there was no way he would be able to memorize those spells in the time he had, Raven considered writing the spells down and placing them in a safe spot. However, despite his fancy attire and hatred of getting dirty, his house was a mess-- "organized chaos", as he called it. He’d leave important papers all over the fridge until they’d take up every last spot, he’d put clothes on top of his bookshelf to remind himself to wash it, only to let it sit there. Sometimes he’d accidentally find items he thought he lost months ago, only to find it underneath a pile of unopened letters he threw on a chair. But he still knew where everything was, he was afraid that if he’d clean it, he’d forget where he placed everything, or throw out something important. 

If he had physical pictures he could look at instead of some flimsy paper that’d get lost with all of the others, it’d help him concentrate on his goal.

“Well look who’s here.” Raven snapped back to reality and saw Leah drawing away on the pond’s dock. She placed her drawing pad and pencil down and walked over to the farmer.

“I thought you were gonna be on your farm all day.” The artist cocked an eyebrow with a small, smug smile. 

“Oh yes, I’m heading there right now, just needed to stop by a friend’s.” 

“You walked past the path to your farm just a minute ago.” 

“Is it wrong to quickly say hello to the most wonderful girl in the world?” Raven questioned playfully as he walked on the old dock, the wood creaking against his weight. He twirled Leah and hugged her, she chuckled. 

“No... But I expect you to be doing your job.”

“How’s that commissioned sculpture coming along?” Raven shot back.

“That’s not important right now.” Leah pecked Raven on the cheek and noticed the small camera in his hand.

“What’s that for?” she motioned her hand at the camera, Raven glanced over. 

Lifting the small, silver camera up to her, he said “I’m planning on taking a few pictures of my farm, possibly print them out and hang them on my wall.” he trailed off for a moment, trying to recollect a thought, then continued, “You wouldn’t happen to have a printer, would you?”

The ginger haired girl shook her head, “Sorry, I just have that old computer; I rarely use it for anything else besides emails. Who gave you the camera?” 

“Haley!” 

“Hm.” she scrunched her brows, a mix of uncertainty and a hint of annoyance was visible. “Last time I spoke to her, she said my overalls looked like something you’d find in the Mayor’s wardrobe. Every other attempt I made to be friendly, she just turned her nose and walked away!” 

“Did she now? How long ago was that?” Raven asked as he placed the camera into his pocket. The artist looked up, thinking.

“A few months ago is my best guess.” she shrugged.

“Well, I can assure you that she’s improved as a person. Far more open to trying new things and seeing from other people’s perspective, she’s like a completely different person!” he assured as he slowly began walking off the dock and back to the forest’s path, which was almost hidden in the grass.

“You should give her another chance, you two might have a lot in common! But that’s all up to you in the end. I need to work on those pictures, you have a good day, love you!” Raven waved as he quickly walked back to his farm, Leah smiled and waved back.

~~~

He was glad that Leah would consider talking to Haley once again, the two of them might get along quite nicely. 

Though, the chances of the two of them talking about him and finding out that he's dating both of them would increase greatly. Bringing him up in a conversation would be inevitable. But he couldn't just turn around and tell Leah "Never mind, Haley's terrible, don't talk to her.". That'd be a horrid lie that would come back around to punch him in the face in the future.

Raven didn't want to prevent his lovers from befriending one another; going through all that effort to try and ruin any possible or existing friendships. He'd most likely resort to spreading lies or trying to push them away from each other, which they'd catch onto; and Raven knew there was no way he could fib about how "terrible" his boyfriends and girlfriends are, that'd result in far more drama and broken hearts. He truly loved those he's dating. He truly does. 

But if he wanted everyone to get along and keep their relationship a secret, he would have to keep them quiet.

Raven stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened. There was a way to do just that. He burst into a full on sprint towards his house. Swinging the door open then immediately slamming it behind him, he ran over to the kitchen table.

The table was covered with far too many objects; gems, papers, fruit. He threw them off of the table, frantically looking for the remaining magic books. Raven threw anything he could get his hands on to the ground, crushing the paper in his hands, not even batting an eye when he heard a gem crack the moment it hit the floor. He saw a corner of one of the books and snatched it as if his life depended on it. 

Flipping the book over to see which one he grabbed, it was the other history book. “The Spells That Ceased War”.

Would that even contain any sort of spells? Would he even be able to cast a spell? He hadn’t had the chance to practice yet. 

‘I knew I should’ve kept that children’s book.’ he grumbled to himself as he flipped the small but surprisingly thick book open. A small table of content was on the third page; he skimmed it.

“The peace holders... Forced harmony... Progression of spells... The war in her hands... Secrets contained?”

Secrets contained. Page 286. He flipped to the page as fast as he could, tearing some of the old, delicate paper; the paper would cut his skin in return. But that didn’t matter! He reached the page and gasped. 

It was absolutely unreadable.

A giant, wine colored stain seemed to have smeared the ink of the first page; several holes were visible as well. Some creature must’ve made a nice snack out of it. Raven flipped to the next page in hopes that it’d be in better condition, only to be greeted with the paper being even worse. He kept flipping desperately, hoping he’d find something--anything--useful. The farmer was only greeted with smeared ink and holes.

Raven let out a sigh of defeat, a lump formed in his throat. All he could do was stare blankly at the battered pages, breathing in a moldy scent that the book gave off. His eyes locked onto the only readable word on the page; “Afraid”. Next to that word was an eye. 

An eye?

Shaking his head, he looked again. There was a small hole next to that word that revealed a beautifully drawn eye. Carefully and slowly flipping the pages back, he waited carefully to see that beautifully detailed eye again. It was as if it was welcoming him, embracing him, understanding him. Very odd, but it was a magical book, so perhaps that was normal.

Raven ended up on the previous chapter, “The War In Her Hands”, where a drawing of a beautiful woman was found at the first page; in a relaxed and comfortable position. Her top half of the body was human, she had a warm smile and eyes that showed she cared. Her hair was decorated with tiny flowers and sprawled out into a web-like shape, connecting itself to 5 small portraits of different creatures that circled around her. The woman’s legs faded into thick, tangled roots with leaves growing out of them.  
0  
The pages were not in the best of shape, there were still several holes and tears, words were missing or smeared, but it was far more readable than what he had attempted to read before. Taking a deep breath, Raven began reading what he could.

_“The War of ???? is infamous for being the most bloody and ???? war of them all; it was also the quickest of them all. In a bizarre way, Lady Harva was the reason for this. _

_Long before the War of Ze?? started, everyone could feel the tension between the remaining five kings: Visupp, ????, Ka??, Rebr??, and Envis. They all despised each other ever since Tel??, the first magical war, had come to an end. Many people had fallen and kingdoms were in shambles. King ???? and King Envis’ wives had passed; that only fed their ever growing anger._

_Lady Harva, one of the ???? remaining females of the Nu???, could not risk losing any more of her people or the lives of ????. To soothe the men, she would ???? and slowly form a romance between the five kings, slowly bringing them back into their ???? and postponing the war. _

_It wasn’t until three of the kings ???? to Harva at the same time that she had realized how ???? this situation would fall apart. If it was revealed that she had been in relationships with the five kings, she’d be ex??? and ???? creatures would fall all from her hidden ???? between their rulers._

_Lady Larva ran to Sir ????, one of the very first spell ????, and begged for a spell of sealing to be created for the sake of all the magical beings. He agreed to do so, and created what was considered the most advanced spell of their time. A spell that would only affect those who ???? truly cared for. It would keep their relationships a secret, a ???? that prevented the kings from ever mentioning it. _

_Writing the ???? of the men and placing a gift she’s received from them, as it would’ve made the spell stronger, in a circle, she then connected the ???? with ink of ????, outlining the circle and having the lines all meet in the middle. Sitting in the middle, she chanted the spell:_

_“Alloweth thy tongues remaineth still, _

_‘R alloweth chaos ???? Upon us all._

_Alloweth thy hearts beest mineth,_

_And nev’r bid a soul._

_Knoweth yond I loveth thee, _

_And only thee.”_

_The ink glowed a miraculous ???? purple and”_

The rest of the page was smudged and impossible to read. But he had the spell, that’s all that mattered. However, the second line was missing a word, which would no doubt ruin everything. He couldn’t tell if the ink would affect the spell either, as he wasn’t sure if it was magic ink, or just regular ink. Worse case scenario, he’d have to persuade Rasmodius to lend him his magic ink and pray for the best.   
A lightbulb went off. Rasmodius. When he was organizing the bookshelves, Raven recalled the wizard’s words: “... Lest chaos consumes us all.”

That had to be it.

The farmer wasted no time; quickly sweeping any junk that laid on his floor to the side, quickly making as much space as possible to properly cast the spell. He considered finding any sort of items that his girlfriends and boyfriends had given to him, but decided against it, as he feared it’d take too much time to search for in this mess and he might not even HAVE a gift from everyone. Writing names will simply have to do.

Speaking of which, he needed ink. 

Raven wasn’t sure if pen ink would do, or if he’d need ink that was used for dip pens, or magic ink. He’ll find out after his first attempt. Grabbing the first pen he spotted in a pile of writing utensils on his disorganized desk, he began writing the names of those he was dating, trying his best to space them out evenly and in a circular shape before connecting them.

Standing back to observe the names, which he noticed were all a bit lopsided, he mumbled what he had written down to himself, making sure he had all of them.

“Sam, Leah, Haley, Alex, Emily, Elliot, Maru, Harvey, Abigail, Shane, Penny...” The farmer paused, “... Sebastian!” he wrote his other lover’s name diagonally from Penny’s. That was all of them. 

Holding the pen in his hand tightly and concentrating, he slowly began drawing out the line in an odd, hunched over pose, as the words were too far apart to connect simply by sitting down. He made sure it touch each name; Raven prayed that the quality of the circle didn’t affect the spell--maybe it was the stress of this being his first spell, or the thought of what would come if he fails to execute the spell--but the line was extremely wobbly.

Afterwards, he’d start at each name and draw a line to the center. Some lines were noticeably more slanted than others, but he didn’t care. He needed to get this spell done. If he had to spend the rest of the day redoing this damned circle hundreds of times to get it right, so be it. 

He had reread the spell multiple times, trying to get the words ingrained into his brain.

“You’re almost done.” Raven told himself, sweating a bit as he sat himself down in the center of the circle. He placed his shaky hands on the ground, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

His voice started out shaky.

“Alloweth thy tongues to remaineth still, ‘r alloweth chaos consumed upon us all.” 

All noise from outside his house, the chickens clucking, the bugs chirping, the wind blowing had ceased.

“Alloweth thy hearts beest mineth, and nev’r bid a soul.”

The house got darker, as if blocking out and disposing of all sunlight that had made its way in. His hands were still shaking, but not because of the worry or stress. It felt as if the ground itself was shaking. It was subtle, but still there.

“Knoweth yond I loveth thee, and only thee.” 

His eyes shot open, a luxurious dark purple was emitted from the lines he drew, filling his dark room. His pupils shrank as he turned his head about, only seeing the writing and the floor of the room. Purple fog temporarily filled the room, hiding the walls and furniture, leaving Raven in what felt like a merciless void. 

Then it went away as quickly as it came. He was back in his regular, bright house; sun shining through the windows, bugs chirping once again, everything was back to normal.

It was done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this story was inspired by the Group Ten Heart Event you get when you're dating all of the bachelors and bachelorettes in the game! It's been a lot of fun writing and planning this story out so far! ^-^  
Hope you're all likin' it!!


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